Hollywood lost a truly talented performer when Lance Reddick died at the age of 60 back in March. The seasoned performer had been busy around the time of his passing, as he was just kicking off the John Wick: Chapter 4 press tour. And this month marked the release of another one of his final films – White Men Can’t Jump. Though he plays a relatively small role in the sports comedy, Reddick shines in the moments he gets. It turns out the late star actually could’ve had even more screen time, as he filmed a sweet scene that was ultimately cut.
Lance Reddick was the elder statesman of the White Men Can’t Jump cast and, based on what’s been said, the cast really enjoyed working with him. The Wire alum played the role of Benji Allen, the father of Sinqua Wells’ Kamal Allen (who’s the spiritual successor to Wesley Snipes’ character from the OG movie). Benji is introduced as a devoted and loving father, who hopes to help his son realize his professional basketball dreams. Years later, after Kamal’s aspirations are dampened, the patriarch battles ALS.
After appearing in a flashback during the movie’s, Benji makes his first present-day appearance in the film during a birthday party scene, during which it’s revealed that he now utilizes a wheelchair. However, the older variation of the character was actually going to debut earlier in the film. This reveal comes from director Charles “Calmatic” Kidd, who I spoke with ahead of the remake’s release. The House Party filmmaker laid out the scene while also explaining why it had to be cut:
We had a couple of scenes that we got rid of. One, there was a scene with Sinqua and Lance Reddick, where we first see Benji at the old folks home. It was a really good scene, it just kind of felt a little slow for the first act, but it was like, it was hard to cut that. But you know, it was the first time we saw Benji as like, an older man who was going through something. And they kind of shared this special moment over a game of basketball.
Kamal and Benji have a few sweet scenes in the finished film, but this could’ve added another emotional layer to their relationship. But of course, when you’re editing a feature film, chances are that not everything is going to make it into the final cut. And though he had to delete one of his star’s scenes, Calmatic was definitely in awe of the acting veteran during the filmmaking process:
Lance Reddick, he's one of those actors where he doesn't do a bad take, right? Every take is like, ‘Oh, yeah, we could use that, we could use that.’ And so, you know, it was one of those things where, you know, it kind of sucked to take out the film. But, you know, we had to kind of up the pace at that part of the process.
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Few would deny the notion that the Baltimore-born thespian had natural talent, and he’ll surely be missed. Lance Reddick, whose cause of death was revealed to be heart disease, has a number of other posthumous movie and TV appearances on the horizon. He’s set to reprise his role as John Wick’s Charon for the spinoff film, Ballerina. And when he spoke to CinemaBlend months ago, he had nothing but good things to say about working with “dynamic” lead actress Ana de Armas. Reddick will also appear as Zeus in Disney+’s upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and that’s a fitting role for such an imposing person.
It’s honestly still somewhat hard to believe that the actor is no longer with us, yet his spirit lives on through his vast body of work. To say that he gave some incredible performances would be an understatement, and one gets the impression from Calmatic’s comments that he always gave 100%. I’m confident that effort will come through in his final works as it did in this movie.
If you haven’t already, head to Hulu and check out White Men Can’t Jump, which is one of the most notable titles on the schedule of 2023 new movie releases.
